CNM to Celebrate Graduates at Ceremony Saturday

April 29, 2014 -- The Honorable Willow Misty Parks, Bernalillo County Probate Judge and a CNM alumnus, will share her inspiring message as the keynote speaker at CNM’s Graduation Ceremony. It takes place at noon on Saturday (May 3) at Tingley Coliseum.

Jul 17, 2015

Nearly 600 graduates will don caps and gowns at the ceremony. Nearly 190 faculty and staff in graduation regalia will be on hand to celebrate their life-changing achievement, as well as an estimated 8,000 family and friends.

Parks serves as an inspirational figure to CNM students, having graduated in 1996 from CNM (then Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute) with an associate degree in Paralegal Studies. She posted a 4.0 GPA at CNM and was a member of CNM’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa national honor society.

She continued on from CNM to earn a bachelor’s degree in University Studies with a concentration in Political Science and U.S. History from the University of New Mexico, followed by a Juris Doctorate from the UNM Law School in 2003, graduating Magna Cum Laude.

After obtaining her law license in New Mexico in 2004, she opened her own practice. She later taught classes at UNM’s Anderson School of Management, University of Phoenix and CNM. In 2010 she was elected as Bernalillo County Probate Judge. Since taking her oath of office, she has been admitted into the U.S. Supreme Court Bar.

She is currently attending UNM’s Anderson School of Management and expects to graduate this year with a master’s degree in Business Administration. She is also a qualifying broker, licensed by the New Mexico Real Estate Commission.

Admission to the Graduation Ceremony is free. Parking is $5 per vehicle for non-graduates. If you are planning to attend the ceremony, please arrive early since there are other events going on at EXPO New Mexico on Saturday.

Parking Info for Graduation

Employees who will be participating and wearing regalia in the graduation ceremony should have received a parking pass that provides free access to parking through Gate 3 of EXPO New Mexico, which is accessible from the intersection of San Pedro and Copper.

General parking for graduates, employees not participating in the ceremony and other supporters attending the event will be through Gate 8, which is accessible from Louisiana Blvd., just south of Lomas. Parking for graduates will be free. The parking fee will be $5 per vehicle for employees, family and other supporters who are not participating in the graduation procession. Admission to Tingley Coliseum is free for the Graduation Ceremony.

Employees participating in the ceremony procession should be at the event no later than 10:30 a.m. There will be four other events taking place at EXPO New Mexico on Saturday. Some 17,000 people are expected to converge on the EXPO New Mexico fairgrounds between 10 a.m. and noon, so arriving early is recommended. For more information, call the Student Activities office at 224-3238.